LATEX Quick Start by Arun K. Subramaniyan, [email protected]

1 What is LATEX ? Some general pointers: A LTEX is a typesetting system. Simply, we as authors write the • Commands start with a “\” (backslash) A A text and LTEX places it on the page. LTEX is a macro package • Documents start with \documentclass{. . .} and acts as a frontend to TEX. Donald Knuth created TEX in – Specifies the type of document. article, report, book 1982 as a remedy for the poor quality of publishing in the mathe- and letter are the basic documentclasses included with A matical sciences. Leslie Lamport wrote LT X to make T X easier A E E LTEX . Most institutions have their own class def- to use, and thus created the most popular way of using TEX. initions. For example, a student submitting a the- sis to Purdue University will use this command : A 2 Why use LTEX ? \documentclass{puthesis} There are many excellent documents written on this topic and I am just paraphrasing from them. 5 Environments • Produces the best output. The region enclosed by \begin{name} . . . \end{name} is called • Standard for typesetting scientific documents. an environment. Some common environments are: equation, fig- • Easy to use with mathematical symbols. ure, table etc. Text within environments are typeset differently • Meaning based structuring (Automatic). depending on the environment’s specifications. • Its FREE! 5.1 Typesetting Mathematics A y An excellent set of reasons for using LTEX can be found at \alpha α x^y x \pm ± http://www.ctan.org/what is tex.html. \psi ψ x_y xy \times × z \omega ω x_y^z xy \approx ≈ 3 Installation 5.1.1 Calculus Examples A ∞ LTEX is highly popular and its users actively participate in en- \int_0^\infty → R0 \int{\int} → R R hancing LAT X. As a result hundreds of related packages are E ∂u available. The downside is that a new user often finds it confus- \frac{\partial u}{\partial x} → ∂x ing to choose packages to install. To get you started quickly I An exhaustive reference for math can be found at : have put together the list below for different platforms that will www.ams.org/tex/short-math-guide.html. work best for new users. • Windows 5.2 Figures & Tables – proT Xt → LAT X processor Figures and tables do not look nice if broken between pages. To E E A – TeXnicCenter → editor solve the problem LTEX treats them as “floating” environments. By “floating” we mean that the figure/table will be placed in • Unix/Linux an appropriate position, i.e., not exactly at the specified loca- A – TEX Live or teTEX → LTEX processor tion but at a location that is aesthetically pleasing and closest to – Emacs → editor the specified location. Often, figures and tables are placed inside • Mac their respective environments. For instance, – MacT X → LAT X processor E E \begin{figure} – LyX → editor \includegraphics{graph} Note that in selecting the above packages, emphasis was on \end{figure} A ease of installation. As you become proficient in LTEX , you will want to use more sophisticated packages not mentioned above. • A thorough discussion of dealing with figures can be found However, this guide is intended for beginners and the above list is at www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/epslatex.pdf more than enough to start producing great professional looking • www.grad.iit.edu/latex/LaTeX/TableHelp1.pdf has a nice list documents. You will find a complete list of packages related to of tricks to produce good tables. TEX at the CTAN website http://www.ctan.org/. I have downloaded the above packages and burnt them on CDs. 6 Output Formats You are welcome to borrow them for installing on your computer. A A LTEX source file can be used to produce a variety of output 4 Getting Started formats like .dvi, .ps, .pdf, .rtf, .html, .xml. A “The Not So Short Introduction to LTEX 2ǫ” is an excellent guide 7 Further Reading for beginners. I urge you to read it as a supplement to this guide. A A 1. “LTEX : A Document Preparation System” by Leslie Lam- Let us start with a minimal LTEX document. A port from the creator of LTEX A A 2. “The Not So Short Introduction to LT X2 ” by T. Oetiker \documentclass{article} → A minimal LTEX document. E ǫ \begin{document} : www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/lshort/english/lshort.pdf A minimal \LaTeX\ document. 3. http://tex.loria.fr/english/general.html has an exhaustive A \end{document} list of LTEX references.